Sep 3, 2010

The heat is preventing me from updating my blog,Seriously, it's not a joke,My arms, my legs, even my fingers all refused to move a bit when the temperature hit 85...(trying not to turn on the AC that often...but seems like I can no longer hold my ground this summer...)

The heat has won once again...I'm sitting here comfortably...writing this post,But I did keep the temperature nothing lower than 78 degrees,*Still trying to be a bit more "environmentally friendly" while enjoying the cool air at the same time.

So what are we cooking today?Pesto fettuccine with shrimps!Scarily Surprising, I found a similar recipe from my blog that was first written 2 years ago,Looking back to my old posts, that terrible writing (still terrible) and can't-open-my-eyes-to-see-pictures...Man...I did improve over time huh? Yep yep??

Let's toast up the pine nuts first,Simply turn on the broiler, lay the nuts on a baking sheet and toast them till slightly brown on all sides.

You'll definitely smell that freshly toasted nutty aroma once it's done, Take it out from the oven and set aside.

In the meantime, prepare a pot of water,Bring to a boil and sprinkle few pinches of salt,Cook the fettuccine according to the package instruction,Al dente preferably,Once it's done, Save about 2 cups of pasta water (don't need that much, but better safe than sorry) and drain out the remaining liquid from the pasta.

Have a food processor ready,I don't own one ( > _.< ) so I actually used a blender for the pesto,How does that work?Well, it requires a lot of muscle power to shake that blender and patience to stir up the bottom mixture constantly.

If you do have a food processor (I mean...lucky you!),Simply toss in the garlic cloves, toasted pine nuts, grated Parmesan, basil, and give it a few pulses so that everything all mixed well together,Once it's done, drizzle some extra virgin olive while blending at the same time till desired consistency, Don't get scared if you feel like pouring a lot of oil, you need it!Afterwards, give it a quick taste,Depend on the cheese you use, see how much salt are needed for the sauce,Don't forget to grind some black pepper into the mixture.

So what happened if you don't have a food processor?Well, I actually poured in some olive oil first in order to get enough moisture for the blender to work,Trust me, it's quite a process,Good thing my pesto still tastes great!

So the sauce is ready, pasta should be cooking at the moment, It's time to cook up some shrimps,Drizzle some olive oil in the pan, turn to high heat and add 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes,About 10 seconds, add in the shrimps,You can also add about 1 tablespoon of that pesto mixture while cooking the shrimps,More flavorful that way.

Once the shrimps are cooked through, pour in drained pasta and all the pesto sauce,If it's too dry, add some saved pasta water till desired consistency.Voila, yummy meal has appeared!

You don't have to cook a whole box of spaghetti,This recipe is actually perfect for one serving too,But what to do with all the leftover pesto?Well, do you have ice cube trays at home?If so, simple freeze them into little cubes,You can reuse them in the future for dishes like...grilled fish, roasted chicken, salad, etc,Can't be any better!